NFC Notes: Blake Corum, Byron Murphy, Darius Robinson, Cardinals, Rams, Seahawks

Cardinals

Cardinals’ first-round DL Darius Robinson said he’s wanted to join Arizona since the beginning of the draft process given they were one of the first teams to meet with him at the Senior Bowl. 

“I knew AZ was the one for me since the beginning of this process. They were one of the first teams that met with me at the Combine and one of the first teams that met with me at the Senior Bowl, so I’m really excited to be there and ready to put the work in,” Robinson said, via CardsWire.

Robinson said HC Jonathan Gannon has a “really good plan” on how they plan on using their defensive linemen. 

“I felt like they have a really good plan of action in how they want to use their defensive linemen in their defense, in their scheme, and to me it felt like I just fit in.”

Cardinals GM Monti Ossenfort feels you can never have enough linemen.

“You can never have enough big guys,” Ossenfort said. 

Rams

Rams HC Sean McVay was excited about the team adding Michigan RB Blake Corum in the draft as he saw similarities between Corum and current RB Kyren Williams, who had a breakout year in 2023.

McVay noted that Williams will be a great mentor for Corum as the tandem develops as a one-two punch for the Rams rushing attack.

“One of the things that jumped off is there’s a lot of traits that reminded me of Kyren Williams,” McVay said, via the team website. “Obviously I love Kyren and he’s been so important, and just the human being, but then also when you just look at the way he works at it, the production and the things that he was able to bring to our offense last year, and even really some of the things that he worked through his rookie year. I think there’s a lot of similarities.”

Seahawks

The Seahawks selected DT Byron Murphy II at pick No. 16 on Thursday to help fill a need on the front seven. Seattle HC Mike Macdonald spoke on where Murphy fits in next to DL Leonard Williams. 

“He plays our style of football, and he’s so talented,” Macdonald said, via John Boyle of the team’s website. “Versatility along the front, he’s such an aggressive player, plays violently, heavy hands for a guy with a shorter stature, flexible, pass-rush flexibility, you name it. We’re just really excited to have him… This is just a great opportunity for our team to get better. He’s going to provide great competition and he’s our type of guy. He’s a Seahawk through and through.”

“Leonard can play all across the line, so can Byron. We have a lot of guys who can, that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about it. You’re not going to know where guys necessarily are going to be all the time. We’ll have some really sweet ways to move guys around and have them in different spots based on the teams we’re going to play. A lot of flexibility, pass-rush opportunities, matchup things we can manipulate, all that’s on the table. It’ll be fun to see how it shakes out.”

“He’s not Aaron Donald, but he tested like that. He’s got that compact style about him—slow down John, (Donald) is a Hall of Famer—but the body type, getting off the ball. All these statistics we had, all the analytics, his explosive rate, he gets to the quarterback quicker than anybody. He’s got the ability to jump off the ball and get up the field. He can play edges, he can play square, he can rush the passer inside, he gets up and down the line of scrimmage.”